A bucket of fun
by Typerim
Summary: Nikola thought it would be fun to throw some ink over some unsuspecting squids. Little did he know who he was about to pull a joke on. Requested by: JBlaster
1. Chapter 1

The plaza was busy as usual. Inklings with all kinds of clothing wandering about, all in a good mood. This had to do with the stage that was being build in front of the tower that was the entrance to the turf war lobby. They all knew what it meant: The squid sisters were going to preform live. Still, this didn't stop them from going about their normal daily routine. Turf wars were played, clothes were bought, there were also squid to be found on the shooting range.

One of these was a blue boy called Nikola who was trying out a new slosher. He threw around some ink to get a feel for the weapon, and decided that he liked it enough to buy it. He went over to the counter were Sheldon was just listing weapons to someone who seemed bored out of their mind. He waited for Sheldon to finish. He put the slosher down for the meantime.

"_I must have forgotten to empty it."_ He thought to himself, as he put it down and noticed that it was still filled with ink. _"I'll just empty it by the manhole at the tower."_

He waited for Sheldon to stop speaking, he even recognized a few of the weapons he mentioned. His talk eventually came to an end and the squid he had been talking to murmured something to himself as he went over to one of the shelves. Sheldon now noticed Nikola standing next to his slosher.

"So, what do you think of her?"

"It's a good slosher. I'll take it."

He handed him the coins as a payment.

"Good to see that business is going well." Nikola said, thinking back to all the occupied shooting ranges he passed.

"Yes, indeed it is. When we get a life performance at the plaza, business seems to spike."

"Do celebrities like the Squid Sisters come by your shop as well?" It was just a random thought that popped up in his head. He could already imagine the duo walking into a store, surrounded by fans.

"If they did, I couldn't tell."

"_I should have seen that coming. If I were famous, I wouldn't want everyone to know were I do my shopping. Makes you wonder how they go by unnoticed when they do."_

He waved Sheldon goodbye and carefully picked up his new slosher. He had to empty it somewhere, but most importantly he had to watch out with it. He wouldn't want to be the one who forgot to empty his weapon and then threw it over someone by accident. _"It would be fun to drop it over someone though. It wouldn't be enough to splat someone and it would disappear anyway."_ He walked out of the store and found a place to wait for an unlucky passerby.

The unlucky squid in question consisted of a duo of squids. One in green wearing a cap, mask and hoody, the other was colored a dark purple and wearing sunglasses, a beanie and sweater. The second one was wearing a bag seemingly full of clothing. _"Perfect, they'll be so busy with each other to notice me."_ He took his bucket and stood ready to trow. As the two came closer, he could listen in on their conversation.

"Do you really need so many new clothes?" the one with the mask said.

"But I didn't have that shirt yet." The other tried to defend herself.

"We always wear the same thing to concerts, you don't need a new shirt."

"A squid can never have to many shirts, and besides..." She was cut off as a splash of ink was thrown over her. Both immediately looked over to were it came from and saw Nikola, who had just turned around, ready to run.

The one with the mask sprinted after him, reached him in an instant and grabbed him by the collar. She turned him around and looked at him with gaze that made him wish he had never come up with the idea.

"And now make your apologies." She said to him, making it clear that she wouldn't take a no.

"It… it doesn't matter Marie." The one with sunglasses said while trying to shake of some of the blue ink. "I have a better idea."

The masked squid turned around, still holding Nikola in her firm grasp. He was left wondering if she was who he thought she was, because she did indeed look similar.

"You weren't joking when you said that, were you?" The masked one answered. Confirming Nikola's assumption. She turned back to him. "Well, I guess it is your 'lucky' day." She let him go.

He looked at the two in disbelief, but then saw the mischievous smile of the one with the sunglasses. "You are coming with us." Her smile scared him a bit.

"It is best for you to come with us." The mask said in a way that made it clear that he didn't want to find out what would happen otherwise. "Once her mind is set on something..." 

The two of them let Nikola down a few alleyways and they entered the back of a building that stood with it's front adjacent to the plaza. He had remained silent for the entire walk, and so had they, but his curiosity got the better of him.

"She called you Marie, and you look a lot like her as well…" He started.

"Did that take so long?" The one with the sunglasses chuckled as they entered a dark room and closed the door behind them. He heard them take something off and as the light turned on he saw that he was right. The one who was wearing the mask had put it off and the other had taken off her sunglasses. Nikola stared at them in disbelief. He'd expected it, but didn't think it to actually be true.

"Y-you… you are..." He stammered.

"Yes." It was hard to tell if Marie was flattered or annoyed.

"And you are..." Callie began, but was interrupted as Nikola threw himself on his knees.

"I am so, so sorry." He started to cry.

Marie just let out a sigh as Callie continued. "You are a lucky squid." She said it like he had just won the lottery.

"You… you aren't mad at me?" Nikola stood back up and dried his eyes with the back of his hand. The twinkling in Callie's eyes together with her mischievous smile gave him an unsettling feeling.

"Don't think that we will forgive you for your stunt." Marie had a look of remorse, which didn't seem to fit what she said. _"What are they planning?"_

Callie went to one of the walls of the room, there stood a clothing rack full of dresses that looked exactly like the one she would normally wear. Only now did Nikola look where he had ended up. It looked to be a dressing room. The long walls were lined with a few racks of clothing. One side of the room was green, the other purple, and both sides featured a changing room and mirror with an arsenal of cosmetics. Both ends of the room had a door, one they just came trough, and one on the other side. Nikola then got one of the dresses thrown at him. He barely caught it.

"Put that on." Callie giggled. He just looked at her like he didn't understand.

"Just do as she asks." Marie sighed as she went into the changing room at the green side of the room with a dress she had just picked out of one of the racks.

"Take these as well." He was handed pants and a set of shoes. "And put your clothes in here." He took the now empty bag Callie had used as well. What he had to think of this he didn't know, but he did as was asked of him and went into the other changing room.

It took him a bit to put on the dress. The pants and shoes weren't a problem, but he had never put on a dress before. Eventually he succeeded by zipping open the back, stepping into it from the top and then closing it again. It was mind boggling to him how it would clamp around his chest to stay up instead of hanging from his shoulders like he was used to from the shirts he wore. When he stepped outside, Callie shot past him and closed the blinds again after going in herself. Marie stood next to one of the chairs that stood at the mirrors. She had a faint smile on her face.

"If you would come over here and turn around." Nikola did as he was asked.

"_Was this their idea of punishment, using me as a mannequin?"_ She pulled some strings on the back of the dress and widened the middle whilst tightening the upper part. She then pulled on the bottom of the dress, widening it a bit.

"She has been tinkering with different pieces of clothing for a while now." Marie sat him down on the chair. He could now see himself wearing the dress. It looked identical to the ones they would wear. _"Of course, its one that even came out of the same rack."_ The stripes were colored orange however. Marie got something out of one of the cabinets that stood under the mirror and pulled of the elastic band that had his tentacles together.

"Just sit still and I'll be done before you know it." She said to calm him as she could see his face through the mirror. She was pulling and twisting his tentacles like she was folding origami when Callie came back out from behind the curtain and looked at him.

"Looking good." She still had the unsettling expression on her face as she went over to one of the racks in the far end of the room and pulled a dusty box from below some dresses. She opened it and picked out a triangle and a small eight shaped box. "I knew these would be useful one day."

As she came walking back, he tried to get a better view of what she was holding, but Marie held his head straight. "Don't move, or I have to start over." He could hear her walk by. She reappeared in his view again as she opened the box and seemed to wash the content.

"What is that?" He asked.

"You'll see soon enough." Callie answered. "Now hold your eyes wide open." She put what could only have been lenses into his eyes.

"And now blink for a bit." Nikola did just that. He had never worn lenses before, and they made his eyes start tearing. After a bit of blinking however, his eyes seemed to accept that there now lay something on them. In the meantime Marie had finished turning his tentacles into an artwork and Callie had put something on his head.

"Now close your eyes and hold still." Callie told him as he could hear them rummage through the drawers in front of him.

"Now this might tingle a bit, but it is important that you don't move." Marie said as he felt something brush against his face. It did indeed make him get the urge to shake his head, but he held it still as he was asked. He could feel a second brush by one of his eyes, as thin as a pencil. It took him all his concentration to not rub his hand against his face to stop the itching. Callie's continuous giggling didn't help him either.

He could hear both of them take a step back, whisper something to one another, and step back in to continue what he assumed to be a painting on his face. A little while later, they repeated this. The third time however, they didn't continue to recolor his face. They were washing a few brushes when he opened his eyes after they said that he could. He looked into the mirror and he could see his mirror image turn white as a towel.


	2. Chapter 2

He stared at the mirror for a bit. If it wasn't for the fact that he could see the Squid Sisters right behind him, he would have thought that he was looking at one of them through a weird camera filter. He could see an inkling that could have easily have been mistaken for one of the members of the iconic duo. The only big give away was that the dress that he was wearing, together with the triangle shaped hat they had put on his head, were colored orange.

"And now for the finishing touch..." Callie handed him a set of gloves. "put these on." She put them into his hands.

After trying to put the left glove onto his right hand for a good few minutes, he looked away from the mirror. "_What do they want from me? To try some new style?"_ He got up and turned around to find that Callie had walked over to the other side of the room to look at Marie who sat at the chair opposite to his.

Nikola turned back and looked at the mirror again. If he wouldn't have known better he would have thought that the Squid Sisters were now a trio. Marie even had his gotten his tentacles into a bun, making it look like he was wearing a large blue bowtie on the back of his head. He saw Callie walking back to him, so he turned around again. She seemed overjoyed.

"Why?" He asked with a faint voice, not being able to find anything else to ask or say. All she did was giggle.

"Do you want me to tell him, or are you going to do it?" Marie asked as she got out of the chair. Callie started to laugh and then took a deep breath to calm back down. "He'll see soon enough." The way she said it made Nikola even more nervous than he already was.

"About soon, it's almost time."

"Lets take… Wait, what was your name again?" The both of them now looked at him.

"N-Nikola." He stuttered.

"I'll just say Nikkie." Callie said with a mischievous expression on her face that just straight up terrified him. "Just follow us and don't talk, we'll explain as we go." Marie said in an attempt to comfort him.

The three of them went out of the dressing room and found themselves in front of a staircase that led to a closed hatch. Marie went first and pushed it open. They went up and she closed it behind them. The hatch seemed to seamlessly fit into the floor, it was barely visible, even though Nikola knew it was there. He looked around to see where they were now, and it was maybe the last place he wanted to be. The three of them stood in the studio where the two of them would always do the news. He could see a few inklings walking by, they stopped to look at him with a surprised look on their faces.

"Wha..." He wanted to ask, but was interrupted.

"You don't have to say anything. Just let us do the talking." Marie said as they took positions in front of the camera.

"Just stay right there." Callie said after checking the camera. "You'll know when to get over here."

Nikola just stood there with a defeated expression. He watched as the two started the news with their acclaimed jingle. He also noticed how a couple of the curious inklings were using their phones to take pictures of him. "_Why couldn't I have just emptied the bucket in a plant pot or something?"_

He listened to the two announcing the current stages for the turf war and ranked battles, but when he expected for them to end the broadcast, they instead told they had one more thing to say.

"But wait.. we have one more announcement to make!" Callie called out after showing the stages.

"And what would that be?" Marie answered with clear sarcasm.

"We are having a live performance!"

"We already told everyone, the stage is already being set up as we speak." It was hard to tell if she tried to tell her that everyone already knew, or if she was was stating it for the oblivious who hadn't noticed it yet.

"But that's not all!"

"No?" Again with sarcasm written all over it.

"We have a guest."

"We do?" It was hard to tell if she was annoyed or actually enjoyed playing dumb.

"Come on, you have seen her." This confused Nikola, until he realized how they had called him, and what they had made him wear. He looked around him to see if he could find the trapdoor that led out of there, but he saw nothing but an even, smooth floor.

He looked back up as he felt a gloved hand around his arm. Callie was slowly dragging him into the view of the camera. Nikola could never have described how much he wanted to not be in that situation, he would have rather been splatted over and over again then to appear on television. That was not even taking into account that he was wearing a dress.

"just smile and wave at the camera." She said to him whilst trying her hardest to get him to move without it looking like she was dragging him behind her. "We'll do the talking. Just nod when we ask something."

Nikola didn't dare to look at her face. Her smile would only add to the feeling of humiliation. He tried to evade looking at her by looking at Marie instead, who was looking at him with a 'I'm so sorry' look. Callie let go of him again.

"This is Nikkie." She happily told not only the camera, but also the audience that had in the meantime gathered in front of the studio. Nikola took her advice and shyly waved at them with a phony smile. "_Once they let me go, my life is over."_

"She will be accompany us for today, all the way to the performance!" Then it hit him, the makeover wasn't to put him to shame, it made him unrecognizable. He now had a genuine smile on his face. His life wasn't over, no one would ever even know it was him on the television.

"Is that so, Nikkie?" Marie asked, snapping him back to reality. He needed a moment to get back, and then nodded at her. Marie smiled. "I'm happy to have you here for today."

"That was all." Callie said as she pulled Nikola in front of her. "You do my pose." She whispered to him whilst trying to hold back her laughter. She then added for the rest to hear: "And don't forget that you can come take a photo with us after the show tonight."

She gave him a soft poke as a way to say that he should pose, quickly follow by the two calling out their catchphrase: "Stay Fresh!" Nikola had seen the pose more than he could count, but doing it was an entirely different thing. He got it mostly right, raising one arm whilst holding the other low as he flailed his hands a bit to much. He felt another poke signaling him to stop, and so he did.

The red light of the camera turned off and the two of them just stood there. He wasn't sure what Callie and Marie were waiting for. All he knew was that he wanted to wake up to find that this was all some sort of twisted dream. He took a look outside, or at least at the wall of people that had now flocked to the studio. They all silently stood there, watching them.

Suddenly, like someone had shot a charger in the middle of the plaza, a flood of sound came over the entire center of Inkopolis. Everyone started make noise, from simply talking to one another to cheering. It was impossible to make out anything of what was being said, and after the silence, the sound felt ear shattering. All Nikola hoped for was that no one had recognized him as he put his hands over his ears. Only now did he feel that they had glued circular earrings to them.

"Nikkie, over here!" Marie called out next to the now reopened hatch "We still have a few things to do."

He didn't waste any time and went down the stairs before one could have said 'burst bomb'. He almost ran into Callie, who went into a door on the right instead of the one in front that led to the changing room. He followed her and entered what appeared to be a large empty room with a mirror covering one of the walls.

"If you want to be ready for tonight, you'll need some exercise." Callie explained. "We'll start with the performance itself. You have watched one of our previous ones I presume?" Nikola just nodded. He had been to many of their concerts, but to imagine him on the stage with them was something else. He was looking forward to it, even though that sounded weird to him.

"We'll start with dancing, and then do some camera poses." He looked at her with a questioning gaze. "I told everyone they can come and get a picture after the show. Don't you think everyone wants one with you after that?" It sounded like a question, but it was clear that she was announcing it to him.

Marie came into the room with a large boombox and a few cassettes. "All the songs should be in here." She said more to herself than anyone else as she put the machine down and started to go trough the stack of little tapes.

* * *

They had been practicing for a few hours now and Nikola had gotten tired. He however kept going as he knew that he had to join the Squid Sisters in their performance tonight and that if he wanted to not make a fool out of himself, he had to continue to practice. _"__Why do I even want to go on with this? Maybe I just like the idea of standing atop a stage, surrounded by a horde of fans."_

"You're doing really well." Marie complimented him. "It seems that you are ready for the show. Now for the things that you'll need to know after."

"We'll just go through a few poses." Callie added. She was really enjoying herself with the thought of what they were about to make him do. She picked up one of the cassette boxes and put her arm over Nikola's shoulders. She held up the box like it was some kind of camera.

"Now just pretend that I'm a fan that wants a picture." She told him whilst pressing him closer to her. All he know to do was to put up his best smile and hold up a hand to the camera, like some sort of greeting.

"Not all to bad." Marie told the two. But maybe try to lean on just one of your legs." He adjusted accordingly and when he took a look in the mirror they were facing, he had to agree that it indeed looked way better.

Callie let go of him again. "And now pretend that someone wants to take a photo of you." He stood still for a moment, and then tried to reenact the pose he did during the news show. "That… works… But maybe you could try something like this." She turned away from him and turned her head to look at him again. He turned to the mirror and repeated what he had just seen, and to his surprise it actually didn't look half bad, if it wasn't for the fact that he knew who sat under the dress and all that makeup.

"See, that's a lot better. You're really good at this." Callie complimented him. "Now, we have a few more hours till the show begins, so lets DANCE."


	3. Chapter 3

Nikola nervously sat in one of the chairs in the dressing room. He could already hear that the entire plaza had filled with fans, and they definitely made some noise. As he looked around, he could see Callie in the other chair, busy with a perfume bottle, which struck him as odd, since they were going to be on stage for the entire evening. _"The meet and greet after…"_ He let out a little sigh. As much as he somehow looked forward to the concert itself, the meet and greet they had promised their fans was something he would have liked to just be canceled all together.

He hadn't noticed that Callie had stood up and had walked over to him. He did notice when she went to town with the bottle as he could not only hear and feel it being sprayed all over him, but could also smell the odor, that, truth be told, didn't smell half bad. He coughed as he got some into his mouth.

"Wha- *cough* what was that good for?"

"You don't want to smelling like you have just done turf war training, would you?" She let out a giggle.

He couldn't argue with that. He figured that if we were to try and leave prematurely, Marie would just catch him again and drag him back. It still remained a mystery to him as to why she would help Callie with this at all, since she seemed to not have been so keen on the plan from the very start. The Sister in question stood at the door that led outside.

"Are you finally ready to go on stage?" She asked Callie, who in response calmly put down the bottle.

"I want fans to drop because they adore me, not because I made them vomit." She said it with a calm voice.

"Just come here, we are already five minutes behind schedule."

Not only Callie, but also Nikola stood up and walked over to the door as Marie opened it, letting a cold wind enter the building. The three went outside as they could hear the noise of the audience slowly grow with every step that they came closer to the plaza. Somehow, with every step he took, a urge to start to run straight to the noise seemed to grow. At the same time, a, according to himself, more healthy feeling of fear started to come up to the surface. He had no idea why part of him wanted to run away while the other wanted to throw themselves into the crowd, but he knew that both were equally unhelpful at the moment.

Just before they went around the last corner that separated them from the stage and the fans that were waiting on them, Marie told Callie to wait for her as she turned around and stopped Nikola. She grabbed his shoulders and tried to press down on them in an assuring manner.

"Remember this, everyone there doesn't exist. Just do what you practiced this afternoon and it will all be fine. Just look at the lights around the buildings if that helps you." She let go of him again and gave him a faint smile. "Just remember that you'll do fine. You did great during practice, and this is just the same. We were there once too, and if we can do it, you can most definitely do it too."

The two turned the corner and found Callie at the edge of the stage almost bouncing with excitement. When she saw the two come over, she almost ran up the stairs and the two could hear the audience greet here with more noise that they made combined up to that point. Marie followed her as he could hear Callie kick of the show with a greeting.

"Hello Inkopolis!" As a response, the crowd found a way to produce even more sound than they were already doing.

Nikola was sure that even a busy airport would seem like a calm park compared to this. It took him a bit to take a deep breath and remember what Marie had said to him. He then slowly started to walk up the stairs as the Sisters continued.

"I'm Callie."

"And I'm Marie."

"And tonight we are joined by none other than..." Almost as if she knew where he was, she held her breath for a second and then screamed at the top of her lungs: "Nikkie!" as he came onto the stage with a smile and a waiving arm. _"Why does this feel good? Why do I want to be here?"_

The fans seemed to tone down the cheering for a bit, only to reach a new peak of noise that could even be heard all the way to Octo Canyon. Even the Squid Sisters seemed to be startled for a moment. That moment however didn't last long as the entire plaza could hear how music started to play. Even Nikola, who was now looking at the great zapfish that loomed over them all from its spot around the tower, recognized the Inkantation. He looked back down and took the starting position, just like they had practiced. As he looked back down, he noticed how he could now barely hear anyone as the music overshadowed all of their voices and put him at ease. He didn't even have to close is eyes to imagine that he was just practicing once more, with only the two squids next to him watching.

* * *

As the last notes came out of the inkling high speakers, the audience seemed to have saved all their power for one last scream that was not only the second loudest of the evening, but to Nikola's surprise also accompanied by the large bangs of fireworks behind them, splashes of not only a bright purple and lime green, but also orange. As the screams died down, they were replaced by first a few, but slowly the whole crowd cheering. They all praised the three in different ways, making it hard to hear any individual in the group. As he stood there, enjoying the attention, Callie spoke to everyone again.

"Thank you all Inkopolis!" The fans just didn't seem to get tired of cheering and yelling.

"And to all who are interested, we'll be in the Cozy Cove Cafe, signing autographs and making pictures. And don't hesitate to get a drink as well."

With this message, she turned around and walked of the stage. Marie followed her example, so Nikola did too. When he was going down the stairs, he could see the two at the bottom, waiting for him.

"You liked it, didn't you?" Callie promptly said.

"H-how..." He stammered.

"The look on your face said it all." Marie answered him. "But believe me, now comes the most annoying part of the job." Her tone went from satisfied to annoyed even quicker than that the audience changed how noisy they were.

"About that… We should get going." Callie said as she looked at her phone. "The fans will arrive in a few minutes.

* * *

After having gone through a few alleyways they had reached the cafe, that still seemed abandoned apart for a few jelly's with white aprons that each had three large C's on them. One of them stopped cleaning the tables and walked up to them.

"Is everything ready?" Callie asked. The jelly nodded and took out a notebook.

"Three large coffees." Marie said to the waiter. "Hope you like coffee, you'll need it." She then whispered to Nikola.

The three of them went inside and the first thing that he noticed was that there were fences put up to form a small path that went past a table with posters on them and ended at a table that had three chairs on the other side. He quickly put one and one together and understood what they were going to do. The three of them went to sit down after Callie took a few posters with her. Marie pulled a box from under the table, containing so many pens that Nikola could have sworn that the ink of those pens combined would be enough to splat a squid.

"Soooooooo." Callie let out a sigh. "It is actually very simple. Just put the name your given on the bottom, followed by your initial." She picked up one of the posters and put 'Nickola' on the bottom, followed by a large 'C'. She passed one to Marie as well, who also put his name on the paper, followed this time by a large 'M'. When he also got a poster handed to him, he followed their example and wrote his name, followed by a large 'N'.

"See, it's easy." Callie proclaimed. "Just sign the posters like this. And if one comes with one of these large ones…." She put another poster on the table. "Just put your signature under it and pass it through."

He looked at the poster that showed the three of them on stage, preforming one of the dances that they had done that evening. The smaller ones were of each of them separate during a different moment of the performance. He was surprised at how quickly someone had been able to turn out all those posters of something that happened so recently.

"It's quite something, isn't it?" Marie asked him. He just nodded as a reply.

One of the waiters came to them with three large cups of hot coffee. He couldn't tell if he was the one who took their orders or not. He always has had difficulty telling them apart. They all took one of the warm cups and put them on the table. The Jelly bent over in a sign of respect and moved back to clean one of the tables that stood near the walls.

"They're almost here." Callie noted, looking at her phone before putting it away again and looking outside.

And sure enough, he could hear the sound of cheering slowly grow louder as the fans came closer. He could see the first of them turn a corner and head for the cafe, only kept in line by a few large inklings in uniform that seemed to keep the group from storming the place.

"If anyone wants to ask you something, we'll handle it." Marie told him with a reassuring voice just before the doors opened and the crowd formed a disorganized line and almost swarmed the table they sat at.

* * *

They had been there for over three hours now and it had already past midnight. The crowd outside seemed to have dissipated as they had now received an autograph and most sat at the tables enjoying their drinks.

Nikola had to agree with the Sisters that this indeed was way less fun that the concert had been. It was however nice to see all the happy faces of people leaving with an autograph of them. _"If only they knew who I was."_

He was happy that it was almost over. That happiness seeped away faster that his coffee had done when he saw the last inkling that stood in the line. He recognized that dorky clothing style like no other. The thought that he would run into acquaintances had crossed his mind more than once, but had been pushed aside as he hadn't seen anyone familiar at the concert nor during the entire night they had already been there.

The boy came up to the table with two of the large posters. Nikola looked at him, and when he looked back, he could see that even his friend didn't recognize him. He almost let out a sigh of relief as he first got passes a poster that had the name 'Ralph' on it. He wrote down his signature and as he passed the poster to Callie who sat on his right, Marie gave him another one, this one with the name 'Nikola' on it. He looked at it for a minute before putting a large 'N' under it and passing it to Callie, who was trying her best to hold back her laughter. She however managed to write a large 'C' on it and hand him the posters without him suspecting a thing.

"C-can I take a picture w-with you." Ralph stuttered.

Nikola nodded before Marie could answer him. He knew that he could since they had done it all throughout the evening. If a fan wanted a picture, they could just make one right then and there. And even though he knew Ralph would show him the picture someday, he kept a straight face and gave a genuine smile as the three of them stood together as they let the boy sit on the table just in front of them.

They could hear the clicking noise the phone made when it took a picture. Nikola just tried to think that it would all be over soon, as he, despite the large cup of coffee, was slowly getting tired. He really appreciated that Ralph was so kind as to get him a signed poster. Little did he know.

As he wanted to make one last picture, Ralph pushed himself up with his free hand and got his face up to Nikola's and kissed him on his cheek while making the last picture. He then threw himself off the table, tried to grab his posters, missed, reached again, got them, and ran off. Leaving the three dumbfounded.

Callie threw her head onto the table and started to laugh so hard that almost everyone in the cafe looked up to see what she was doing. Even Marie had a large smile on her face.

"You're never going to tell him, are you?" She chuckled.

* * *

Nikola had put his own clothes back on and was now cleaning his face with a purple towel. When he looked up in the mirror again. He saw himself looking back, the him he was used to. He took out the little band holding Marie's artwork of tentacles and he put them back like he usually had them.

"Shame." He heard Callie say from right behind him. He jumped in his chair. "It looked good on you."

He turned around to face her. "I guess..."

"But I hope you have learned a lesson here." She continued with the smile on her face that had given him the creeps yesterday. "And if you don't… We know how to find you..."

He stood up and walked to the door, he looked back at the two, and like they had prepared for the situation, both of them called out their catch phrase and posed for him. He smiled back at them, turned back to the door and left the building. He hoped that he never had to see Callie smile like that ever again.

* * *

Nikola arrived home and went straight to his bedroom. He looked at his alarm clock and saw that it was already half past two. He then went over to the bathroom, noticed how he still had the small glittering earrings glued to his ears and pulled them off. Not bothering to brush his beak, he used some mouthwash before diving into his bed and falling into a deep sleep.

* * *

He woke up to the sound of his doorbell. Looking at his alarm clock that now displayed that is was half past eleven in the morning, he stood up, noticed he was still wearing the clothing from yesterday and went down the stairs to answer the door.

When he opened it however, there only stood a large cardboard box. He looked around, but couldn't see anyone who could have dropped it off. He shrugged his shoulders and went out to push the behemoth of a box inside. He didn't even bother trying to lift it, assuming it was to have to do that anyways. He got the box into his living room without a problem, but as he wanted to close the door, he could hear a familiar voice calling out to him.

"Nik, he Nik!"

He looked out of his door to see none other that Ralph running to his front door.

"Great, your up. You'll never believe what I did last night!"

"Weren't you at a concert or something." Nikola tried to keep a straight face.

"Not just a concert. It was the Squid Sisters performing, and they weren't alone."

"They weren't?" He really had a hard time trying not to let out a chuckle.

"No, they had someone who looked so much like them, like she had always been part of the group, Nikkie I think she was called."

"So the show was fun?"

"Not only that, but they were also signing autographs after. And before I forget..." He pulled something out of the small backpack that he was wearing. "I asked them to sign one for you too." He handed him the poster that he, Callie, and Marie had signed. He tried to give a look of genuine surprise.

"Thank you. I'll make sure to give it a nice place on one of my walls."

"Glad you like it, but I really have to get on my way. You should take a nap, you look really tired."

He waved him goodbye and continued on his way. Nikola stood out by his door for a bit to watch him turn a corner and disappear. He then went inside to take a look at the box that he had for some reason received.

He opened the top and was greeted by the glittering of his sealing light being reflected by a dress that he knew all to well. On it lay the hat and gloves that he had worn the day before, and on top of that lay a small letter. He picked it up and read:

_Hope your day had been a fun one, but remember: If you pull such a joke again, you'll be needing these._

_Stay Fresh,_

_C&M_

He grinned and took out the clothing so he could put it in the bottom of his dresser to be forgotten till the end of time. When he lifted the pile of clothing however, he saw what had filled the rest of the box. A bucket lay bottom up in the cardboard box. He smiled.

"That slosher... that damned slosher…"


End file.
